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Charles T. Low
ctlow@boatdocking.com
www.boatdocking.com
www.ctlow.ca/Trojan26

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Some friends of mine performed a night-time rescue for a guy floating in the St. Lawrence River well into November a few years back. It was cold, both air and water! The fellow had been in the water several hours before they found him, supported in an inner tube, carrying some of his possessions in a garbage bag tied to himself, and wearing layers of winter clothing, but nothing really "nautical." Finally back at shore, the rescuee stepped off the boat as if nothing had happened. The rescuers were chilled to the bone and barely able to move. I have no moral to this, except that in calm water, the layers and layers of clothing must have helped immensely and seemed quite adequate for the task. And he was still able to move around. Charles PS The man was perhaps trying to sneak from one country into another, but the police found that basically he had done nothing illegal (just stupid), and was carrying no contraband, so they let him go! ==== Charles T. Low ctlow@boatdocking.com www.boatdocking.com www.ctlow.ca/Trojan26 ========

ctlow@boatdocking.com writes: >The fellow had been in the water several hours before >they found him, supported in an inner tube, carrying some of his >possessions in a garbage bag tied to himself, and wearing layers of winter >clothing, but nothing really "nautical." I can agre with that. Two years ago in December on Lake Ontario, I was building my plastic wintercover. To complete the task I had to use a small raft to float alongside the boat to fasten the plastic to the gunwhales. I was dressed warmly with a police type winter jacket, long johns under my corduroys, sailors cap, gloves etc. The lake was 2 degrees celsius and there were chunks of ice floating nearby. Well, I slipped, fell in the water and couldn't pull myself out (no ladders or steps in our marina). There were no other people in sight. I clung to a steel pylon and started hollering for help. After some time one man saw/heard me but wasn't strong enought to pull me out by himself. He went to get some more people and I was eventually pulled up on the dock. I had been in the water approximately half an hour and suffered no ill effects. Shed my wet clothing, took a warm shower and celebrated with my rescuers over a good bottle of rum. Just like your story in the St Lawrence, nothing nautical involved, just layers of winter clothing because after all, I was working and moving around my boat which I couldn't have done in survival gear. George of Scaramouche1, Lake Ontario, Canada